Victoria Azarenka vs Garbiñe Muguruza Prediction & Betting Tips - US Open, New York, USA

Prediction published on 02/09/2021, 16:37  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 03/09/2021 at 09:43 in Tennis Predictions

The women's singles are usually a minefield for seeded players but so far in the US Open, all the top 12 are intact. Victoria Azarenka (seeded 18th) bids to end that with a win over ninth seeded Garbine Muguruza. Azarenka began this US Open ranked 19th in the world but that's six places lower than at the start of the year. The 32-year-old was top of the rankings nine years ago but has not reached a final all year. March saw her reach the semi-final in Doha and was due to face Muguruza but pulled out through injury. Another semi-final was reached on grass in Berlin in June and recently the last eight in Montreal. In her last tournament, Azarenka faced world number one Ashleigh Barty and won only two games. She does love this tournament and has reached three finals, including last year.  2021 has seen her defeat Tereza Martincova and Jasmine Paolini, both in straight sets.

The pair have met four times in the past and are level at 2-2, excluding that walkover in Doha. Strangely, of the four matches that made it on court, there have been two retirements, one for each player. The ones that did get all the way to match point saw Azarenka win in 2016 and Muguruza on clay last year. Garbine Muguruza had an impressive start to 2021 helping her climb from 15th at the start of the year to tenth. Muguruza (who for some reason on the WTA site has her christian name spelt Garbi?e) has made it to finals in the Yarra Valley Classic and Doha and then won the Dubai Tennis Championships. Since then though, the Spaniard has only made it to the last eight in two of 12 tournaments played.  One of those was at the Tokyo Olympics. In Grand Slam events this year, Muguruza hasn't got past the fourth round and only once in her last 12 events has she got past that stage. Her record in the US Open isn't great and in nine times playing here, this is only the second time she's made it past the second round. This week has seen Muguruza beat Donna Vekic by winning two tie-breaks and then Andrea Petkovic for the loss of six games. Go for Azarenka to win this and have a side bet on a tie-break.